Cattle-guard.



instru sfrarrns when.

SAIVIEL C. BAUGHN, OF CANALOU, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO J. W. BAUGHN ANI) Gr. A. WRIGHT AND `Oll\T1LF0UIR/1H T0 SAN'IFORD IVI. GREEK, ALL 0F CANALOU, MISSOURI.

To all lwhom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, SAMUEL C. BAUGHN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Canalou, in the county of New Madrid and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Cattle-Guard, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to cattle-guards for railroads, the object of the invention being to provide a guard of this type utilizing a series of pickets designed to be actuated by an animal approaching the guard, so as to be elevated in front of the animal and prevent it from leaving an inclosure through which the track extends. y

Another object is to provide a guard of this type utilizing pickets so shaped as to lie fiat upon the ties where they cannot be engaged by any parts which may be dragged by a car or cars passing over the guard.

A still further object is to provide novel means for guiding the guard during the movement thereof.

A still further object is to provide platforms of novel form for receiving the weight of the animal approaching the guard, said platforms being capable of a yielding action with relation to the balance of the mechanism of the guard.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists of certain novel. details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings Figure l is a plan view of a cattle-guard embodying the present improvements, the pickets being shown in their normal or lowered position. Fig. 2 is a section on line A-B Fig. 1, the pickets being shown extended upwardly. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one vof the platform sections, said section being inverted.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference A designates the ties and B the rails of a track, there beingstraps 1 secured upon one of the ties and terminating in loops 2 and 3 constituting bearings, these loops being depressed so as to lie below the plane occupied by the upper faces of the ties A. The loops 3 constitute bearings for a rock bar 4c extending under the rails B Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 19, 1909.

CATTLE-GUARD.

Patented Jan. 25, limiti.

Serial No. 496,982.

and parallel with the ties, said bar having i in the path thereof. An arm 6 extends' ufrom the rock-bar t and has a weight 7 thereon designed to hold the pickets nor mally in lowered position. The loops 2 constitute bearings for a second rock-bar 8, which also extends under the rails B, there being an angular arm 9 connected at one end to this rock-bar and extended under one of the ties and thence upwardly, the upper free end of the arm being secured to one end of a chain 10 or the like which is wrappedone or` more times about the rock bar 4f, said chain being secured to the bar.

Cpenings are formed within the bar S at points between the rails B and also those portions of the bar extending beyond the rails. These openings are designed to receive spring arms 1Q, preferably arranged in pairs and each arm having a crooked portion 13 which is secured in any suitable manner to the bottom face of a platform section 141-. One of these sections extends between the rails and the other sections are disposed at the outer sides thereof. The arms and their crooked portions constitute yielding supports for the platform sections, and, as a result, when the weight of an animal is applied to one of the sections, the guard mechanism will not be operated until after the platform section has yielded to a slight extent. This yielding action will sometimes be sufficient to cause the animal to turn away from the guard, but, should it not be sufficient, the application of additional weight thereto will result in the actuation of the guard. When the rock-bar 8 is partly rotated by the depression of one or more of the platform sections, the arm 9 moves upwardly at its free end and thus pulls upon the flexible elementi() which is therefore caused to unwind from the rockbar 4. Said bar will thus be caused to partly rotate and the pickets 5 will swung upwardly as indicated by full lines in Fig. 2. The arm 6 and weight 7 will also be elevated. When the weight is removed from the platform sections the parts G and 7 will operate to automatically return the mechanism to its initial position.

In order to prevent lateral displacement of the rock-bar 4t and the pickets, a guide strip l5 is secured to the tie A on which the straps l are fastened, and this strip curves downwardly partly around the rock-bar 4:, there being a slot 16 therein within which one of the pickets works. -This picket is always located within the slot and it will therefore be apparent that the strip 15 not only serves to prevent the bar 4 from shift ing in the direction of its lengt-h, but it also serves to limit the upward swinging movement of the pickets.

It is of course to be understood that various changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit or sacrificing the advantages of the invention.

What is claimed is l. A cattle-guard including guard members mounted for swinging movement, a depressible actuating device, and elastic means for transmitting mot-ion from said device to the guard members.

2. A cattle-guard including spaced rocking members, a flexible element wrapped about one of said members and secured thereto, an arm extending from the other member and secured to the flexible element, a

platform, elastic means for transmitting motion therefrom to the rocking member from which the arm extends, and guard members projecting from and movable with the other rocking member.

' 3. A cattle-guard including a rock-bar, spring arms detachably connected thereto, platform sections secured upon the arms, :1u arm extending from said rock-bar, a second rock-bar, guard members extending therefrom and movable therewith, and a flexible element wrapped about and secured to said last mentioned rock-bar and secured to and disposed to be actuated by the arm.

4l. A cattle-guard including a rock-bar, a series of swinging guard members actuated thereby, and a depressible platform and elastic means for transmitting motion from the platform to the rock bar.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afiixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

SAMUEL C. BAUGHN Witnesses:

W. M. I-IARTMAN, W. D. MILLER. 

